MUMBAI:  In a tragic incident, two persons, including an eight-year-old boy, died while three others were injured after a blaze broke out in a flat located on the first floor of an eight-storey residential building in suburban Kandivali West in Mumbai on Monday afternoon.

The two dead included Glory Roberts (43) and Joshua Robert (8) said to be the sister and nephew of former IPL cricketer Paul Valthaty who had come down from Scotland to visit her sick mother who lived on the fourth floor of the same building. 

According to police officials, the mother and the child tried to escape using the staircase but were possibly caught and trapped in the fire and fell unconscious.  Glory's husband Noel had also come with them and was in the building when the fire broke out. He reportedly told Glory and his son Joshua to get out of the house with the maids. 

Some eyewitnesses from the building said that both Glory and Joshua reached the first floor in an attempt to come downstairs. However, they could not go beyond that due to the raging fire and heat. They then tried going to the terrace, but could not reach there either. Even the maids with them are in critical condition.

They were declared dead on arrival at the hospital. The injured persons include two women named Lakshmi Bura (40) Rajeshwari Bhartare (24) and Ranjan Subodh Shah (76) from the same building. 

According to fire officials, the fire erupted in a first-floor flat of Veena Santoor Cooperative Housing Society at around 12:30 p.m. and spread to the electric wiring and installations on that floor. The officials said that the four fire engines and other vehicles of the fire brigade reached the spot within 15 minutes of the fire being reported, and it took about four hours to douse the fire. The police were conducting further investigation to ascertain the exact cause of the fire.